Miami Slips Past NIU in Overtime
OXFORD, Ohio – Dalonte Brown made a corner three with 0.8 seconds left in overtime as Miami topped the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team, 85-82, on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 22) at Millett Hall. The RedHawks closed regulation with a 12-3 run in the final 1:11 before claiming the home win in the extra period.
Keshawn Williams (Chicago Heights, Ill./Tulsa) scored a game-high 28 points to lead the way for NIU. Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) added 16, Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill./Iowa Western CC) had 14 points and a game-high eight assists while Adong Makuoi (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada/Daytona State College) chipped in 11 points.
“(Miami) did a really good job of forcing us into late shot clocks, we had too many live ball turnovers down the stretch,” said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. “They didn’t give us a couple calls on bang-bang plays that could have gone either way but take our hats off to Miami. They are an older team, our team is still young, we competed, Miami just made a few more plays than we did in the second half.”
NIU (5-10, 2-3 MAC) opened the game making its first four attempts from beyond the arc, with Thornton and Hankerson each knocking down a pair, as the Huskies led 14-7 in the early going.
Hankerson added a third triple as the NIU lead grew to 19-9 less than eight minutes into the opening half. Williams made a layup to push the NIU advantage to double figures and, after Miami scored the next three, Hankerson hit a pull-up jumper to put the Huskies in front, 23-12.
Miami (9-8, 3-3 MAC) trimmed the NIU lead to seven before Hankerson made another triple, his fourth of the half, to put the Huskies in front 31-21 with just under five minutes left in the opening stanza.
The RedHawks used a six-point burst to get within four, 31-27, but NIU scored the final half-dozen of the first half, four from Williams and a putback just before the buzzer from Anthony Crump (Inkster, Mich./Middle Tennessee), to take a 37-27 lead into the locker room.
Crump finished with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Hankerson scored 14 points to lead all scorers in the opening 20 minutes, Precious Ayah had nine to pace Miami. The Huskies shot 45.2 percent (14-of-31) in the first half, including 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from three-point range.
The Huskies led by a dozen when Miami made back-to-back three-pointers to cut the NIU lead down to 43-37 with just over 13 minutes to go.
Still in front by a half-dozen, Thornton drove the lane for a layup and Williams canned a triple, giving NIU a 53-42 lead with 11 minutes remaining. Makuoi then made a pair of buckets to push the NIU run to 9-0 as the Huskies led 57-42.
A pair of baskets for Miami cut the NIU lead back to single digits, but Chinedu Kingsley Okanu (Lynwood, Ill./Vincennes University) finished at the rim to give NIU a 62-51 lead with 4:52 left. Miami continued to chip away and the RedHawks were within a half-dozen, 71-65, with just over a minute remaining.
Two Huskie miscues and four RedHawk free throws brought the hosts to within a pair. After NIU took its lead to three, Brown made a three-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game at 74 with 10 seconds left in regulation, forcing overtime.
In the extra period, Williams opened with a trifecta for the Huskies, Miami answered with the next six to go in front by three. A triple from Williams with 27 seconds to go tied the game at 82 before Brown’s heroics won it for Miami just before the buzzer.
Brown scored 24 points to lead the RedHawks, Mekhi Lairy added 21 points and Dae Dae Grant chipped in 18. Miami went 21-of-38 (55.3 percent) from the field in the second half and overtime, including 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from three-point range.
NIU will return to action on Tuesday night, Jan. 25, when they visit Ohio. Game time in Athens is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT and will be available on ESPN+.
